


denouement

by butterflyswimmer



Category: Higurashi no Naku Koro ni | Higurashi When They Cry
Genre: Bisexuality, Developing Relationship, F/F, F/M, Falling In Love, First Kiss, Fluff, Friendship, Healing, Introspection, Multi, Post-Canon, Relationship(s), Romance, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-25
Updated: 2017-08-25
Packaged: 2018-12-19 13:10:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11898420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/butterflyswimmer/pseuds/butterflyswimmer
Summary: Of love, trust, and the last few loose ends.





	denouement

**Author's Note:**

> a quick note: chronology-wise, this is technically a sequel to my work [surprising butterflies](https://archiveofourown.org/works/10640199) and as an fyi, i have some other one-shots that also cover my take on keiichi, mion and rena's relationship developing throughout the canon timeline before this point. that said, this can certainly be read as a stand-alone!

This Watanagashi feels different.

That’s what Rika finds herself thinking, however much it shouldn’t come as a surprise.

 

If the festival she knew so well had once played out to the funeral march of an entire village’s tension and fear, then this time… There was no rhythm.

What had she expected? Happiness? Peace? These things not only existed, but were plentiful - but more than it all, there was normality. Freedom. That of the undetermined path that lay ahead, beginning tonight.

 

Rika felt it, as she tipped her head back, felt the whims of the very evening air play out across her skin. She’d become enamoured with her lungs. The way they kept pumping oxygen in, out - the way she could now dare to hope they would, not just here, but for the next week, month, and until summer came again.

Lively voices dance around her. She’d been sitting with Satoko, already having performed the ritual dance. Keiichi, Mion and Rena had slipped off somewhere afterwards, but they’d all watched - had cheered her on from the front row, in fact. Still, by the time she made it back from changing out of her robes, the crowd had dispersed and it was only her best friend waiting to greet her gleefully.

She didn’t mind that. She hadn’t minded sitting here side by side together, alone. She opens an eye now at the second familiar voice.

 

“Is that so…?” Shion crosses her arms and hums thoughtfully. She’s hardly stopped smiling since earlier - she rarely does, but Rika knows well how much of a farce it can all be. For the first time, she thinks, Shion’s voice is alight with joy, trembling as though a new heartbeat is carried in every syllable. Her eyes are bright in the warm festival light, as her face slips into an unsteady grin. “And I wonder what I’d find them doing exactly…? I’ll have to congratulate Kei-chan later. I didn’t think he had it in him to rein in one girl, let alone this.” And it’s with that that Shion skips off into the night, giggling.

“What was that supposed to mean?” Satoko frowns. “First the others, now Shion-san… Well, you won’t leave me, right, Rika?” She grins her toothy grin and Rika only smiles right back, one thing the same as ever.

It’s shortly thereafter that they hear the unmistakable chorus, not meant to travel all the way to them, but doing so all the same. And indeed, when their three friends come into sight, they’re walking close to one another - and the stalls are packed tightly, but that doesn’t explain Mion’s hands around each of her friends’ waists. Satoko’s already jumping up, yelling about abandonment, but Rika just sits and watches, chin propped up on one fist. Shion’s not the only one who’s been watching the night play out, smiling all the while.

 

What Rika realises for the first time, now, is how many new things she’ll get to see - no longer the same scenes burned into the backs of her eyelids but only the unpredictable. And then the four of them run up to her, and Mion’s fingers stay where they are, tentative on the fabric of each of the others’ clothes, and for one dazzling moment, it’s like she can feel the past and future collide, feel one give way to the weight of the other - and she can’t think of a better moment to begin the journey forwards.

* * *

July in Hinamizawa has colour that it hadn’t in Tokyo. The light seems alive, dancing flame, painting every stage of the day in a new palette. He watches it now as it fills the classroom, just one of the moments he’s yet failed to catch.

 

It’s the time of day where the other kids go running out into the yard while the six of them drag tables together. The time of day where Mion throws open her locker with a clatter and appraises the selection for a few moments before the game of the day is presented to them. It’s the time of day where the hours fly by and it’s just as well that it’s summer, or they’d be going home in the dark.

 

He forgets time for a moment, like that, as the younger children skip around, a happy babble fills the room, Ms. Chie pulls together her papers and moves to the teachers’ lounge. Very soon, the building will be empty for the summer.

 

He can hear his friends, make out voices if not words. Feels as though he’s underwater for a moment, as he gazes out over the yard. Somewhere halfway through the afternoon, someone had pushed open the massive window. A light breeze drifts in.

 

It’s been a few weeks since Watanagashi. A few weeks since everything. Life as normal feels like the ebb of a tide, swelling, falling back, returning to them. It’s not a painful thing. But as the hours and days pass, everything they’ve done together begins to sink in in the way it never had the chance to in the moment, and suddenly there’s a whole new dimension to this existence, something carrying them all, each day, together. It’s strange, as much of this life is, and Keiichi is learning to let it happen.

 

It’s the scrape of metal legs against wood that bring him back to reality, and a now-empty classroom. There’s only Mion, class rep, pulling desks and stacking chairs, readying the room for whatever purpose it’ll serve the small community over the holidays.

 

“Where’d everyone go?”

She startles before turning, even though he doesn’t think she’s surprised to find he’s still there.

“They went home to get changed.”

He stays where he is, watching life drain from the yard for the last time that season until the voices of the children are overwhelmed by those of the cicadas. Until the sounds within the room have stopped, and his friend is standing over him. He looks back at last.

“Are we doing the club in town today?”

He doesn’t know what he’s expecting - after all, club or not, they’d all realised they didn’t want to do anything with their spare time but spend it together.

 

Instead, Mion just folds her arms, leans against the desk, turning her back on him. If the room weren’t as empty as it is, he might not’ve caught the sigh. It’s not weary, though, not sad - more like the noise someone makes after they’ve been holding their breath for a long time. He gets that. Thinks they’ve all been feeling it, recently.

He almost finds himself reaching out, as if to affirm she’s still there, despite the mere centimeters between them. But he doesn’t. They stay as they are - him sitting, her standing, both watching the sun inch towards the horizon. It’s a rare moment of true peace.

 

“About the club…”

He’s almost sad, when the silence ends. Like he’s not quite ready to launch back into the tumult of their usual relationship. He finds himself treasuring the moments now, one by one, which is ironic, when they’ve finally won tranquility. Wonders at how he’d lived his life in the shadow of impending tragedy without ever realising.

There’s no way to erase the weight of everything that’s happened - in fact, it’s rather the weight of what didn’t that seems to follow them, like ghosts filling every room they occupy, and more than they can outnumber.

He thinks that might just be okay, though.

Sure, there are nightmares. Fear prickling like static at the back of his mind, that they’ll lose it all, as they so nearly had. It was only after the end of everything he’d become conscious of the possibility, ironically. But more than that, there’s the moments after laughter when they look at one another, and smile until they feel like their cheeks are going to split. There’s the lingering hands, fingers in hair, palms against backs before they go home for the day. Making sure they’re all here, all okay, moment to moment, promising together to reel in another tomorrow. Sometimes Rika still looked like she might cry at it all.

So, it’s okay. Living like this. It’s more than okay.

 

When he comes back to reality, the room is another shade of orange. The words linger, just beyond the place of remembering, understanding. Mion’s just looking at him, one of those looks they all so often given one another these days.

“You’ll look after it for me, right, Kei-chan?”

“Huh…?”

“The club! D’you even have a brain up there?” She turns around now, properly, plants her elbows on the desk, rests her chin on interlocked fingers, and pins him down with a look. “This is a big deal, you know? I’m entrusting my creation to you!”

He tips his chair back, furrowing his brow. It’s not the first time they’ve spoken about this - about what’ll happen come spring, a Hinamizawa he can’t even imagine - when, after the dwindling months, Mion goes off to university. It’s not something he wants to think about, and tomorrow has enough weight without years and decades to think of, but he supposes they’re all dealing with everything differently. For Mion, it’s business as usual. Always had been. That was why she was their safety net, after all.

 

“You know I don’t like talking about this.” He grumbles. “What the hell kind of club will it even be, without your weird punishment games…”

“I’m sure you can take up the reins there for me. I’ll even leave you my carefully cultivated punishment game collection. You’ll have to double down hard on Satoshi-kun in mine and Shion’s place when he’s back. He’s missed so much.” She places a finger to her chin. “And Hanyuu… It sure is a shame. I haven’t had nearly enough fun with her yet.” Her expression actually starts to fall, then, because of course it’d be sacrificing the opportunity to torture her beloved underclassmen that’d bring Mion down from her usual high - and that won’t do.

“You know you can leave that one up to me. How many outfits do we have that we haven’t tried out on her yet…? There’s no way I’d let her get away, especially not after everything you put me through when I first moved. As for Satoshi, I think the others’ll have that one covered. Maybe it’s just as well Shion won’t be here.”

She laughs that laugh then, the one that can fill whole rooms. “That’s what I like to hear, Kei-chan. See, who could I leave the club to but you? Someone’s gotta continue my legacy. I’m sure Rena wouldn’t hold back, but you know what she gets like when she sees cute things. It’d go way off the rails with her in charge. I can’t even imagine what kind of terrifying things would happen.”

He joins in the laughter, because she’s right - but it’s still not quite right.

 

“It won’t be the same without you, Mion.”

It comes out without him meaning it to, and carries far more than the weight of the current conversation.

She takes it in for a second. The sun continues to drift through the sky, towards its resting place, bringing the temperature down, casting glowing shapes across the floor and their faces. And that’s enough of that.

“Still, you’re really letting us off scot-free today? What could’ve triggered such a change in heart? Don’t you want to wring us dry before you’re off?”

She finally walks around, then, lifts him by the armpits. “Too cruel, Kei-chan. Even this old man can be a softie from time to time.” Drags the chair out from under him, leaving him stumbling back.

He begins to pull his desk backwards to join her on the other side of the classroom. “Sure you don’t have some twisted plan? Perhaps this was all a scheme from the start, and everyone’s ready to jump out and wrestle me into that swan outfit you love so much?”

“I’m wounded, Kei-chan. What a bad opinion of me you must have if we can’t even have a conversation alone without you thinking there’s some ulterior motive.”

“Or perhaps that’s it.” He pushes the desk into place besides the others, stretches as he looks out at the golden yard. “We really are alone, and you know you can do whateeever you want to me. I’m sure you’d like that, just once, wouldn’t you? How many of those perverted punishment games have you yet to use up on me? I know you must be unsatiated, with me losing less recently. So, go on then, I’m all yours.”

 

It’s only when he’s gone back to retrieve his bag from the floor that he turns, waiting on a response, to see Mion still at the other end of the room.

“You ready to go? The others are probably already waiting.” He grabs her bag from where it sits next to his, holds it out.

“R-Right.” She walks over then, head bent, grabs it from him.

“Are you blushing? Geez, I was joking, don’t get too wrapped up in your dirty thoughts. Like I’d let you have your way with me so easi-” The bag lands on his head, then, heavy with a summer’s worth of textbooks.

“OUCH! I was just teasi-!” The bag is swung towards his side then, and he barely jumps out of the way in time. “OKAY, I get it, sorry if I went too far, it’s not my fault if you’re actually a  prude with all the crap you usually do to us!”

Mion drops the bag then, bangs still hanging over her face, and for a second he wonders if he really has gone too far, starts to feel a little bad -

“God, Kei-chan! You really are the only suitable successor. I know there’ll never be a dull moment for the others with you running things.” She’s red in the face, but as much from the tears forming in her eyes as she laughs, now, clutching her stomach. “I’m sure you’ll be a fearsome leader.” And then, quieter, “I wonder what we would’ve done if you hadn’t shown up.”

“Well, who knows how anything would’ve played out, if things hadn’t been exactly as they were.”

And there it is again - the two of them, the setting sun, an empty classroom, and a seeming host of ghosts, watching them silently from every corner. Sometimes he felt sorry to the himself of past lives, like he’d taken something precious, something he hadn’t done nearly enough to deserve. He’d spoken to Rika about it, once. This feeling.

 

He didn’t know what he’d expected - but it somehow didn’t surprise him, the way the young girl smiled up at him and affirmed his suspicions.

“Other worlds? Those exist, Keiichi.”

He’d asked more, then. Hadn’t questioned it. Tried not to think too hard about it, either. About how it felt like it made sense.

 

Lots of things could change, from world to world, was what Rika had told him. A number of years, or months, or weeks. All of them. An infinite continuum of patterns, every way the light could spill through a kaleidoscope, every blinding image.

It was what she’d said next that took him by surprise. It was the things that seemed to exist yet not that he was trying to make sense of, after all. Like memories he wasn’t meant to have.

Some things stayed the same - was what Rika had also said. And that one, he’d thought about, before he replied.

“Well, sure. Some have to, right? We’d always have been friends, wouldn’t we, at least, all of us?” He had grinned, and she had back. He was never sure, when she did that, whether she was laughing with or at him. But, it was a kind smile. The smile of his kaleidoscope friend.

More or less, Keiichi, she’d beamed. “Still, some things really never changed. It was quite something. A miracle in itself, almost.”

 

Even if he’d managed to find a question, its only recipient would’ve been the empty space Rika had left as she ran away to play with Hanyuu.

 

“Let’s get going, Kei-chan.” Back in the late afternoon classroom, Mion’s still smiling as she grabs his sleeve. One beam of light, the image the kaleidoscope had settled on. Their new lives.

Apparently the class rep had a lot of duties, approaching summer. Apparently, he’d find himself helping out from time to time, as everyone rushed ahead home, after the club activities. Apparently the duties had to wait until then - or, more often, Mion would forget, remember only at the last moment, just before the two of them left the classroom. And apparently, on those days, where they’d end up walking home alone, she’d hold onto his sleeve, at first uncertain like a child, and then his arm, for the last few streets before they parted ways.

* * *

It’s summer in Hinamizawa. Truly summer. Ice cream melting down your arm, burning your fingers on the metal in the junkyard, sun tumbling through the trees and feet in the cool forest streams summer.

It’s a days-blur-into-one summer, because she’s out of the door first thing in the morning, and too tired to do anything but go to sleep when she gets back, most of the time.

She’d said it, once. Happy days are limited. And she was happy, because everybody finally seemed to understand - seemed to mirror her heart’s desire to spend every waking moment together, enjoying this while it lasted.

And yet, in spite of all these thoughts, day by day, she began to question herself yet again. Not about happiness or whether it lasted, though - they weren’t dealing with anything so weak here.

 

“You’re quiet, Rena.”

Keiichi’s just beside her as they dangle their feet in the water. Rika, Satoko and Hanyuu are playing downstream.

When she looks at him, he’s smiling as ever, but something else lies beneath the expression. She wonders when he’d gotten to know her so well.

“I was just trying to find a word for it.” She smiles right back.

“A word for what?” And that’s Mion, to her right. Their fingers rest over one another’s on the ground.

“This feeling.”

Nobody says anything, then. But, whatever it is they’re all thinking, three overlapping lives, what Mion says next speaks for them all.

“I… wish it would never end. This.” She looks down for a moment, into the sunlight on the water, before she continues. “It makes me sad, to think one day…” She trails off, biting her lip.

“One day what?” Rena rests a head against her shoulder. Her skin is warm from the sun, a little damp from the games they’d been playing in the water.

“You know…”

“Know what? I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Keiichi declares loudly, stretching, laying back against the river bank. Rena knows that’s just his way of saying not to worry about anything silly here and now, and she looks between the two of them, sighs, then picks up on the forgotten sentiment.

“Really, though. I don’t know what you’re worrying about, Mii-chan.” The girl just kicks her feet in the water as a response, expression still taut with worry. “So what if you move away?”

She looks up then, as though Rena’s said a foul word.

 

She will, of course. Mion will go to university, albeit still with some level of responsibility to her family here even through those years. If you realised that, it already wasn’t so bad, but change is still change, whatever the size. The anxiety is born from knowing the foundations you’ve built your happiness on are moving. But, there it was again. Happiness. As if that word could encapsulate this. Rena scoffs. She sees Keiichi open an eye from where he’s resting, arms behind his head. They both know she has something to say, so for a while there’s silence, besides their friends’ giggles, the flowing river, the birds overhead.

“We all want to be together forever, right?”

It doesn’t scare her to say. Rena knows scared. It’s because she knows it that she also knows these things are the most important to speak aloud.

Nobody replies, because she’s right. They might sound like childish words aloud. But sometimes those are the most important to hold on to.

“So it’s fine, then. Everything’s fine.”

And then Satoko’s wading back towards them, splashing Keiichi, and Rika’s dripping from head to toe after falling, and Hanyuu’s fussing over her, and they’re trekking back to the shrine grounds as always, and everyone’s laughing together. And she isn’t sure if they really understand what she’s said yet, but that’s okay. They’ve got a lifetime to learn. She really believes that.

* * *

As she walks, Mion wonders at how her world had gone from her family, the village, a sea of responsibilities and politics to drown under to this. It was hard to juggle everything, and there was so rarely a dull moment that it was no wonder her heart hummed in her chest as she made her way to Rena’s house, alone. With leaves crunching underfoot and the sky a glowing amber, summer had faded into an autumn that allowed them to breathe, and the evening air was finally gaining a bite. Traversing the roads between her home and Rena’s, overnight bag slung over one shoulder, the breeze was only soothing. Being alone with the other girl still tended to make her palms clammy, in spite of everything, after all.

 

It’s later that they’re lying together in their nightclothes, she on her front with a pillow clutched to her chest, Rena next to her, playing absent-mindedly with her hair.

“Why don’t you grow yours out if you like long hair so much?”

“I don’t want it. I like it on you, Mii-chan.”

 

Rena’s father was away on a business trip. It wasn’t like they waited for such occasions to do this - in fact, Rena had grown fairly close to her grandmother, and she always delighted in having her over. This was actually something of a special occasion - Rena’s father’s new job was finally coming together, and the two girls had talked about it as they made dinner together. It wasn’t often Mion saw this kind of genuine happiness emanating from her friend - so excited she was stumbling over her words. It seemed things were finally falling into place after so many years of confusion and pain. So it was Mion’s turn when Rena faltered whilst cutting the vegetables, speaking of how she shouldn’t get ahead of herself, to take the knife from her hand and hug her - to tell her everything would be okay, now. She knew Rena and her father were both trying their best, were talking properly again - so, certainly, it was true.

 

They didn’t always talk, as they lay together. Sometimes they’d bathe together, wash one another’s hair, without needing to exchange a word. Sometimes Rena would pull some new dress she’d bought out of her closet and implore her to try it on - she refused, of course. What was the point in punishment games if she just surrendered and wore whatever Rena wanted here?

Before they realise it they’re falling asleep together, and Mion has to extract herself from the tangle of blankets to turn off the lights. The moon shines bright through the window as she pulls the curtains shut and Rena whines, tugging at the hem of her nightdress. She permits herself a smile then, in the dark.

“You’re such a baby. I’m coming now.”

“Mii-chaaan…” Her voice is heavy with sleep. Mion slips back under the cover. “We didn’t talk that much… I don’t want to go to sleep yet…” Rena’s words are stifled by yawns.

“You’re tired. You should.” Mion whispers, even if it’s only the two of them in the house.

“You’d better not disappear in the morning…”

Mion frowns slightly. Sometimes, on occasions like this, she’d have to get up early and go back home to attend to family business, or something else of the plethora of things she was responsible for in the village. Sometimes it meant leaving Rena while she was still sleeping.

“You’re not answering. You’re mean, Mii-chan. Don’t leave in the morning…”

Mion just shushes her, and for a while it’s Rena breathing against her chest, the empty house, the whole of Hinamizawa, a pocket of night sky. She only speaks again thinking Rena’s already fallen asleep.

“Should I just stay here forever, then?”

“...Remember when it was just the two of us?” Rena’s voice is muffled.

It’s not a sad statement. Still, Mion hesitates. “I do on nights like this.”

And they lie there, and she feels it for the thousandth time, this wonder - peace. Blinding, in snatches, like the moon through the window when she moves so Rena’s forehead can better settle into the hollow of her neck.

“It’s best that we can have moments like this, along with everything else.”

Mion just nods mutely, feels that familiar pang, faint, something she’s trying not to look at, even as she knows Rena understands.

Because it’s not that she’s not happy. The opposite, really. Once it was something you’d had a little of, you got greedy. Every day she found herself wondering when she’d stumbled into this perfect imperfect life, and the same thing comes back to her, the space her heart had grown to accommodate.

 

“I’m sure we’ll be able to do this with Keiichi-kun soon, too.”

 

Maybe it was because of that night, not long after Watanagashi. Something that never would’ve happened, if it had been within her control. It was the little things like that that made her marvel at how the three of them fit together, somehow keeping this thing in motion - the forever turning gears. And she knows it’s a fault, the way she is. But that’s her, stuck in her ways. She wouldn’t have even realised that much if it hadn’t been for them.

She sighs quietly. There’s change she fears even more than anything as tangible as moving to another place.

“Mii-chan?”

Still, it’s not that it’s all in her head. She doesn’t know much about these things, but she knows this is special, and that the best thing that came of everything they’d been through had been how it was laid bare, between all of them. It’s just that she’s not cut out for this. Any of it.

“Stupid Mii-chan.”

That snaps her out of it.

“Huh?”

“I know what you’re thinking.” Rena moves now, pulls away so they can look at one another. She doesn’t need the light to feel Rena’s gaze meet her own.

“I know you don’t plan to change anything… Even though it’d be fine…” Her voice falters. She never lets herself think this far. It’s true, she wants Rena to be happy, she knows love is equal to that much. She also knows how Rena feels about her, and so she doesn’t think about any of it, much. A problem she hasn’t so much as attempted to solve. She liked to think it wasn’t one, and then that chamber of her heart she still didn’t know what to do with would throb again.

“Mii-chan.” There’s a hardness to the words, and Rena knows it. It’s not anger, rather frustration, that the girl all at once doesn’t want to let in, but equally knows holds a purpose. “Can’t you see?”

“See…?”

“You still don’t understand us.”

She opens her mouth at that, finds it’s dry.

“We’d never hurt you.” And then, before she can interrupt, “and not just because we care about you. It’s not just that at all.”

All at once tears are fogging the darkened room, out of nowhere. The kind of tears that come from an emotion you haven’t unravelled yet, winding their way from the depths of your heart, somewhere even you haven’t explored. She ignores them, blinks them away, as though it’ll help her better hear Rena’s words.

“What do you…?”

“Mii-chan.” It’s an exhalation, this time. Rena’s fingers find their way into the hair around her ear, and their foreheads are pulled together. “I understand.” The voice is softening now. There’s a hint of wistfulness, sinking into calm. “I understand, but…” Rena doesn’t cry much. And that’s how she’s learnt to hear the way her voice wavers instead. “I wish you’d trust us with your heart.”

She knows the last thing Rena intends is for it to hurt - but then, sometimes pain isn’t a bad thing. Sometimes it’s all that’ll wake you up.

The last thing the other girl does is lean over, kissing her behind her ear. Then she rolls over to go to sleep.

 

It’s a confusing night of dreaming and not, an array of emotions. Dreaming of the things she’d like to say, the things she’d like to do, the ways her life inevitably begins to shift, now. Realises she might not be the only one with this fifth chamber in her heart, but that perhaps she’d been the only one trying to ignore it. Knows she’s a coward - that’s what Shion would say. Wakes up next to Rena, feels a misplaced anxiety that she decides for once to disregard, finds the faintest hope sprouting immediately in its place.

* * *

It was Christmas Eve, and the last light was ebbing out of the sky over the Gifu mountains. At this time of year, Hinamizawa was steeped in snow.

Christmas Day wasn’t a large event in Japan, especially out of the city, away from the spectacular lights shows and restaurants. New Year’s was more the time for being with family. Still, gift-giving and card-exchanging was becoming a trend, and as such they’d all decided to meet up and do just that at the shrine tomorrow.

 

So what was she doing, dragging her feet through the silent, icy streets, gripping this cake just hard enough not to crush it?

What was she doing on the evening for couples?

 

Mion sighed and carried on. It wasn’t like this had been planned.

For hours that evening she’d bustled around the kitchen, baking in preparation for the next day. It had been fun, she was in a good mood, and when she ended up with an excess of mixture she appealed to her grandmother for a different recipe to try. She liked cooking more than people knew, yet often didn’t have the chance to do it between her usual duties and the hired cooks. As such, she’d been excited to find a reason again - had enjoyed the hard work, forgot everything else as she moved around the warm kitchen.

It was when she’d started the next cake that it occurred to her what she could do with it. A silly idea, born of a calm evening that had drained her of all usual inhibitions and uncertainty. They were friends, after all. There was nothing strange about giving food to friends - they did it all the time, in fact. And Keiichi’s house was closest.

That’s what he’d probably think, anyway.

 

She rounded one of the last corners, coming now to the outskirts of town, surrounded by fields glistening under the emerging moonlight. Focused on her shivering hands, and cheeks that were definitely only red from the cold. Wondered how she even looked after being out in this weather, then about why she was bothering worrying about that now. She wasn’t Shion. As much as she’d considered changing her whole look, it would’ve only confused him more. He’d probably’ve just asked if she were sick, or mistaken her identity entirely. She laughs briskly to herself.

 

Would he give her his gift today, or tomorrow? Had he even gotten her one? They’d promised to all exchange something, so he must’ve…?

 

At the very least, then, perhaps she could receive it in private. Though that would lead to  everybody asking when she’d seen Keiichi to get it, and she definitely couldn’t have that.

 

She looks down at the box in her hands, wonders if it’s good enough. She’d tried the mix.

 

Her footsteps slow as she approaches the gate. If nothing else, her visit tonight allowed her to bask in the season and everything it brought one more time than she’d’ve gotten to otherwise.

The freezing weather had burned her thoughts down to the simplest things. There wasn’t anything wrong with enjoying this.

At this point, she’d be happy just to see him. Just to give him the gift. Just to toy with the idea of having him realise what she was too stubborn to say.

 

It’s then that she notices she’s already been standing in front of the house for some time. Good - the lights are on, including his. Good.

She gets the box under one arm, then behind her back as she goes for the buzzer. Hears Keiichi’s mother call out an acknowledgement. When she turns back briefly, she sees the moon is already high in the sky, a blazing white in the velvet night. Her heart is doing backflips, and she clears her throat. Feels a little self-conscious under the bright entryway light, pats down her hair.

It wasn’t often she laid her heart bare like this. It was probably only because he was so oblivious she managed it. What would she do if she knew he’d really take the time to think about the meaning of her actions?

Then his mother’s opening the door, and the anxiety both doubles back and heightens.

“Oh, Mion-chan! What can we do for you this evening? Did you want to come in?”

“Ah, no, that’s okay...”

“You just want me to get Keiichi? Let me do that. Please do come in, you must be freezing.”

 

Instead, as she waits, she stands there. Holds the box behind her back with trembling hands, doesn’t take the chance to step inside, remains just beyond the light, a little more hidden. Her heart jumps again when she sees the shape coming down the stairs.

“Mion…? What’s up? Did the phones go down? Are you okay?” He’s in the same shirt and shorts he always seems to be in at home, and is already hopping from one foot to the other as the cold air begins to blow in.

“A-Ahaha, yeah! It’s nothing like that!”

“Did tomorrow’s plans change? You could’ve just called then, d’you wanna come in?”

“N-No, I’m just stopping by!”

He cocks his head, wraps his arms around himself. She hesitates, then, shifts her weight from one hip to the other, long enough for him to say, “Geez, you look so cold, what could be so important…?“

She thrusts the box out in front of her with both hands, like it’s a business card. Bows her head.

“Huh, what’s this? My gift? We’re doing that tomorrow, though, right?”

“Actually, I got you another gift as well… Along with all the others! I got you all something… But I was baking and uh…” The words run out, but he’s taking the box from her hands curiously, looking inside.

“Hey, this looks great!” Then, almost immediately, he falters. “But, Mion… I don’t get it.” A steadily more bemused expression. He begins to peer around hesitantly, clearly expecting some kind of prank. At least that she’s not here all alone, on this cold night, shoes and the bottom of her jeans caked in snow, just for this.

“Don’t think too much about it! I just… like baking, and…” She sighs. Breathes in, breathes out. “I just wanted to make you something… Kei-chan. I hope you like it.” And she’s backing away, waving, giving up, when he reaches out and grabs her shoulder.

“Hey, seriously?” The last ounce of suspicion drains from his expression - or maybe it’s just the fact that his face is falling into shadow, and that she can only focus on how warm his hand feels against her quivering shoulder.

“So… everything’s still happening the same tomorrow?”

“Y-Yeah!”

“But you made me this…” He trails off, seeming more to be talking to himself.

“Don’t tell me you didn’t even get me anything, Kei-chan?” It’s a little easier to pretend here,  just beyond the light, with him still touching her, reminding her she doesn’t want to leave just yet.

“Hey, of course I did!”

“W-Well, I guess there was no need for me to do this then!” She can hear already hear Rena’s tired tone when she tells the story later, and the words lose some of their heat. “I only made it to make sure you’d have something for me, so you’d feel eeextra bad if you didn’t!”

“You really think I wouldn’t have gotten you anything?” He’s frowning, his voice soft in the night, when it’s just the two of them like this. Maebara Keiichi, the kind of person who could fire up a whole room, yet equally have you forget you weren’t the only two people in the world when you were alone together. He was more than a comforting presence, rather someone who made you feel wholly accepted. Safe.

 

She’s staring at him, but he’s not looking at her, and he’s put the cake to one side, though not before taking another thoughtful look at it. It’s time for her to leave now. It’s definitely time for her to leave, so she begins to wave yet again. Begins to step backwards, out of arm’s reach.

“Well, yeah...! I’ve given you a reminder now, so make sure you’ve got something ready for me and everyone tomorrow! Happy Christmas Eve, Kei-chan!”

“Christmas Eve…?” The words leave his mouth like he understood them differently before she’d said them. Ah. She’d messed up.

She’s turning around, and the light flickers out, now they’ve been standing beyond the doorway long enough. She’s wondering when she’ll have the nerve to do this again, imagining Rena berating her, and she’s wondering why she’s always, always like this, so weak. She’s wondering when the right words will find their way to her lips instead of getting lost somewhere, wondering when she’ll make it all the way through the evening, from one oasis of light to another without losing her nerve somewhere along the way. Most of all she’s wondering how long this will go on, and when her time will run out.

 

Keiichi’s house is all dark corridors and closed doors, and night has taken ahold, and the little light they share is from the moon. Not enough to see one another’s expressions, now. Only just to make out Keiichi rushing forward, barefoot into the snow.

 

It’s too many things at once - her body getting a shock from the sudden warmth, the fingers tentative on her shoulder, the other palm at the small of her back, pulling her in, and then -

It’s over as quickly as it had begun.

 

“If you’re giving me an extra gift, you get one too. Just give me a chance to actually prepare it next time.”

 

The words are quiet, just quiet enough for her to hear in the padded night, breath warm on her ear before he turns and goes back inside, shuts the door without looking back.

-

When she gets home, her grandmother asks if she’s got toothache. She’s still touching her cheek, the same place his lips had.

 

That night, she doesn’t need to sleep to dream. If anything, perhaps because it’s the only thing she can think - she wonders if she deserves it. Wonders how it’s already gotten to this point.

She pulls her blankets tight around her shoulders, grins into her pillow. The cold doesn’t bother her.

The night folds into a reel of memories, summer, words she’d already forgotten. _You still don’t understand us. Trust us._

And she wonders how much sooner this might’ve happened if she didn’t make it so hard. Realises, finally, it’s ridiculous - that it’s all so ridiculous, and that she’s all at once forgotten fear. Wonders at how seconds of warmth had melted something that had held her down for so long. Wonders what she’d do if they weren’t both so much braver than her, and knows that’s why it had been them. Both of them, always them, for her.

* * *

She’d come by on a whim. It was an early spring morning, and a Saturday - they didn’t make plans so much these days, but would rather arrive at one another’s houses unannounced, or bump into each other at the usual haunts. The spontaneity of it all was exciting. It was an emotion Keiichi felt had been missing from his childhood - a budding anticipation in his stomach that came from not knowing when he woke up in the morning what the day ahead held - only that it would always be amazing fun.

It was on one such morning that Rena came by, like she did when they had school. He was still sleepily making his way through breakfast, but she assured him she had food, and up he went - rushing to his room to pull something on quickly. He knew they were going to the junkyard - Rena liked to spend the beginning of each day there, now, before going to meet the rest of them. It was a special time and place for her, and as such, Keiichi understood it was a privilege to be invited along upon these trips. And so, he was happy enough to sit and watch her dig through the junk piles, occasionally help her pull something out.

 

It was observing this, eyes half-lidded with sleep, shimmering morning light reflecting off the rise and fall of the landscape that he felt that same familiarity from another life, or else a dream. It had the atmosphere of one - heavy, uncomfortable. Polluted with things like mistrust and confusion. Still, he felt nothing of the sort now - that wasn’t his life. There was only a lightness in his chest as he listened to Rena clatter about, closed his eyes completely, let the sound keep him just before the boundary of sleep.

 

Perhaps it’s because they’re usually so loud that he’s all the more content to sit in silence once in a while. He doesn’t know when Rena’s joined him, just sees her there when he opens his eyes again. The sun isn’t quite at the top of the sky - the world is still waking up from winter - and it casts a glow over the two of them, as though leaving a gift before it goes to greet the rest of the village.

It’s one of the things he loves the most, this. That there are so many existences within their bond - or perhaps he’d been the strange one for living such a monotone life before. Whether he’s with Rena, Mion, someone else, some combination of them, he can never know for sure what to expect. Once upon a time he wouldn’t have imagined spending his time like this - sitting in silence, watching the sun rise - but once upon a time he hadn’t really understood the multitudes one person could contain. Not Rena, nor himself.

 

Still, he’d never been one to think much. It was why this life suited him so - days full of adventure, nothing ever stopping. His time in Tokyo had been suffocating - so empty, the walls of his mind pressing in on him at all times. Coming to Hinamizawa had felt like liberation.

He had more to think about now than ever, he’d found. Yet, mostly, he didn’t need to. He just did what felt right.

And most things felt right, here, with them.

 

He realises then that Rena’s looking at him. An unreadable expression - most of hers were.

“You’re quiet, Keiichi-kun.” A smile. And then, “everything’s changing, huh?”

He leans back, takes in all of the sky before it's swallowed by sunlight. “That’s fine though, right?”

“Yes. I waited a long time for this.”

He’s considering what this means when she leans over him to press her lips to his.

 

For a second, the sun, sky, and everything is gone. Even once she’s moved back, it takes a moment for him to see again, as though his vision’s lagging, every sense trying to understand what’s just happened. Then she embraces him from behind, arms around his shoulders.

“I really think everything’s going to work out just fine.”

 

Exactly when her footsteps had faded away, how long the fully-risen sun has been beating down on the old scrap metal, whether morning has in fact already left - none of these are things he knows by the time he finally remembers to get up himself. Then he leaves the junkyard to find out what the rest of the day has in store.

* * *

Another spring weekend, a crisp night. It’s been a rare day spent on the grounds of the shrine, cleaning and preparing for the arriving season.

When she brings their drinks over to the TV, she notices her friend’s expression. She sets down the tray, sits cross-legged before enquiring.

“Oh, thanks, Rika.” Satoko sips contemplatively. She waits. It’s with a sigh that Satoko finally delivers the admission. “Mion-san’s really leaving soon, huh…”

The leader of their club’s graduation was fast approaching, and as such, they’d fought to spend even more time together than usual, as if they could force days themselves to be longer just for them.

“That’s right.”

“This year went so quickly. I wish things could go on like this forever.” Satoko smiles meekly at her.

“Mii’s growing up. We all are. That’s not a bad thing.” Rika’s response is gentle, delivered with a pat on the head.

 

There’s a gameshow on, one that her and Satoko always watch before bed, but really it’s just background noise for their conversation. That, and the cicadas. She used to hate night - now she more hated going to bed.

After a time, she speaks again.

“Don’t worry, Satoko. Things are changing, but that’s not bad. Doesn’t it just make you realise how much you have to hold dear?”

Their futons lay behind them, untouched as the night continues. Hanyuu used to bug her about her bedtimes, but she didn’t bother so much now, which was funny seeing as time was finally ticking again. Or perhaps that was why. Either way, Rika had a feeling she wasn’t the only one making the most of the lingering day.

* * *

It’s as they’re laying out the futon that Mion says it, thoughtfully. “You know, I’m surprised your parents both let you do this.”

Keiichi laughs, and Rena has to slap him on the back to remind him to keep his voice down. “Well… So long as there are three of us.”

She can’t help but smile to herself. Her grandmother, too, had surprisingly agreed. They’d considered somewhere else at first, or not telling her - which only left Mion assailed with images of exactly what punishment she, and moreover they, might suffer. She was the one who’d suggested they just ask. Sneaking around was getting a little tiring.

She wasn’t sure whether her grandmother, or the other villagers for that matter, truly didn’t understand the three of them, or just didn’t bother trying to. Still, that was fine. Nobody else needed to.

 

They’re all lying down when Keiichi asks if Mion picked such a cramped futon on purpose. She flushes in the dark, and is about to ask what he’s implying when Rena butts in. “We made do with this one just fine all this time. You can go sleep somewhere else if you have a problem.” She feels the girl’s arms slip around her waist as she leans over to pout at Keiichi.

“Don’t assume I’m complaining.”

They settle down, then, and Keiichi’s turned the other way, towards the window, because he’s still pretty shy even after all this time. She doesn’t mind that - she’s the same. And at first she’s careful to keep her distance despite it all, lying awkwardly so no part of their bodies touch, but then she’s too focused on his hair tickling her face, and more the scent of it, and their legs brush. Rena, meanwhile, is clinging on for dear life.

“Rena, are you trying to choke the air out of me while I sleep?” She curls her legs into her body, so the responses come at the same time:

“I’m gonna be on the floor if you two don’t move up.”

“Mion, you’re kneeing me in the back.”

 

Keiichi heaves a sigh, then. Flips over and pulls her close all of a sudden, so that the three of them knock skulls.

“This better?” His voice is muffled by her hair, hers by his shirt.

“N-No. Now I can’t breathe for two different reasons.”

In the end, he just rolls back over, laughing raucously - at least until she elbows him directly in the stomach.

“Sorry, it’s just, we’re kind of hopeless.”

“Hopeless yourself.” Still, her body relaxes, and Rena settles on hugging her torso, which she doesn’t hate, even if it’s hard to breathe again. And one futon is incredibly warm when shared between three bodies - even for a spring night in Hinamizawa, where the temperature usually left you under a pile of blankets.

At least, that’s what she supposes when she wakes up a few hours later, unaware of when she’d fallen asleep, with the cover kicked to the floor and one leg draped over the boy next to her. Rena’s back to clinging for dear life, breath shallow against her shoulder, and the night is all scattered stars and stillness beyond the window, and for a moment she just listens. Listens to the nothing and the everything, to the breath of the two humans on either side of her - and when she’s sure she’s the only one awake, she pulls them both in closer. Closer than they need to be, close enough so they’re a jumble of bodies, a beacon of warmth in the deepest part of the night. Close enough so she can’t tell the rise and fall of their chests from her own. Close as they can be, and most of all close enough so that she can fall back asleep, a hint of a smile on her lips.

-

Mion awakes to clean light. She stays there - a moment in the space where you know not what time or day it is - until she registers smooth linen under her fingertips. The futon is empty, the sky bright. Her faces sinks naturally into a frown. She always sleeps so well next to them. Too well.

 

She understands better when she wanders into the kitchen - it’s approaching midday. They had plans to meet in Okinomiya, and it seems they’d both left to first do few things at home, not wanting to wake her.

Her grandmother’s out, and she sits, rests her cheek on her fist. Her mind’s still empty when the bell rings through the house. It takes her a moment to realise it’s a Sunday, and that as such the helpers aren’t here.

-

Keiichi looks a little bashful when she opens the wooden door at the end of the garden path a few minutes later, clad in her usual robe. He’s holding a box in two hands.

“Nice breakfast?” She pouts playfully, even though she knows he’ll take it seriously.

“Well, about that… You haven’t eaten yet, have you?” He chews his lip. It’s sweet.

“No, I just woke up from my _undisturbed_ sleep.”

He either ignores or misses the bait, and his face lights up. She realises her eyes are still a little blurry from sleep, and the winter light. She’s focusing on all these little features of his face, like they’ll anchor her to consciousness. All the things she wouldn’t have permitted herself to stare at for too long before. She lets herself do more these days, the things that aren’t strange any more.

“Great! I mean, my parents made too much! So I thought I’d…” He presses the box into her hands.

She steps forwards, leans against the doorframe. Hums thoughtfully. “Any ulterior motive here?”

He frowns. “What makes you ask that? You know Rena, we left together,” he has the decency to look down, at least, now, “and she always makes breakfast for her dad -” And then his expression transforms into something she’s more used to, something playful, something she doesn’t have time to evaluate the meaning of. “I guess it wouldn’t be the first time.”

“Eh?”

“Ulterior motives.”

And when she realises just what event this mirrors, and what he’s thinking of, she’s embarrassed only for a matter of seconds before she forgets herself.

 

It’s the time of year where the sun is still rising just over his shoulder, giving him a kind of halo. And his cheeks might be red from the cold, but then they often were when they were together, now. And he seems to think he has the upper hand in this, now, as he places his fingers over hers, still grasping the box. “You should go inside. You’ll get a cold in that.”

In fact, it’s his skin that’s cold, dry, and that she’s tracing her thumb along now.

“Thanks, Kei-chan.” The words are entirely unexpected, leaving her lips. All their attention is on their hands, overlapping, holding the box. He’s caught off-guard.

“For what? Oh, the f-”

 

He doesn’t finish the word, because she’s kissing him.

 

It might be quick or it might be long - regrettably, it’s already leaving her memory by the time it ends, as though there’d been some fold in time. And then, for whatever reason, she’s looking around, as if there’s ever anyone else in this corner of the world on a cold spring morning. As if it matters if anyone saw. As if anything does.

She surprises herself by the fact that she’s looking at him dead-on, after that. She’s surprising herself a lot, this morning.

 

“...The food?” It comes out hoarse, like the cold has snatched his breath, or any number of other things. Like words are an afterthought.

She smiles.

“Sure. I’ll enjoy it,” and then, her lips teetering on the edge of a grin at his dumbfounded expression, “want to come in?”

If he thinks he’s actually talking, he isn’t. He’s just staring, agape, and she’s not sure if he’s processed anything she’s said, and she’s beginning to worry about leaving him to ride home in this state - his bike is leaning against the wall - when he begins to turn towards it slowly, like he’s not sure he’s allowed.

“I’ll take that as a ‘no’. See you in a few, then. The usual place.”

 

Those are the words he mutters under his breath as he mounts the bike again - “usual place, usual place, usual place” - like they’re a magic spell. He only seems to regain himself a little as he’s about to kick off the ground and ride away. He just looks at her wordlessly over his shoulder. It’s stupidly endearing, how uncertain he is.

“We can talk later, Kei-chan. Or do whatever else.”

He seems to nod at that - she only notices because the exploding sun peeks momentarily over the side of his face, as though watching them from a distance. And then he leaves.

-

Everything’s a little hazy as she gets ready, then lays the dining room table. At first she assumes it’s because she’s still tired. Then she begins to worry she’s ill. Finally, she actually thinks about what’s just happened and figures this is what it’s like. She’s always wondered. It feels like always.

 

She comes back to reality bit by bit as she’s eating, and is strangely overwhelmed, then. And something tells her she wouldn’t be tearing up as she shovelled grilled fish into her mouth if it were any other morning, but she supposes this is also what it’s like.

 

It’s then that she worries it’s a dream - tries harder to taste the food, even goes up to the walls, draws her fingers down the plaster and wood like it’ll make it real if it’s not.

Then she remembers that even if it is, she’ll wake up next to him in the morning, and she’ll do it again. She’ll do it as many times as she has to. As many times as she hasn’t.

 

The way her heart is thumping seems more than a year of memories can contain.

 

She lets herself cry, then. Eats, cries, smiles as salty tears drip over her lips. Finds she can’t stop, and is still smiling the same way when she rides up to Keiichi and Rena and they speed down the mountain roads to Okinomiya, screeching and laughing as the wind fills their lungs.

When they arrive - when they actually stop - she catches his eye, finds he’s having trouble not grinning too. They laugh, then. Laugh until the others ask what’s wrong.

 

And somewhere in it all she realises, like an afterthought, that this is her life. The reality they’d all earned, bit by bit. The one they deserved, the one they wanted, and the one that was finally theirs.

 

It was on that spring morning, with the sun still rising, rising, giving the day the impression of being lit on fire from underneath, so that their smiles as imprinted on her memory were glowing, that her entire life seemed to come together before her eyes. Seemed as though conducted by some hidden orchestra, as it reached this final harmony. Because if it had led to this, what would she have changed?

And it was on that day that she was sure she was the only person who had ever truly understood the meaning of the word happiness, and that it was the feeling of speeding down the evening roads back home and hearing them beside her, like guidance through the dark, and knowing she was already there - home. That it was knowing that wherever she went, if she were with them, she’d be there. Most of all, that it was knowing that if it had all been for this, truly, she wouldn’t have changed a single thing.

**Author's Note:**

> literally like two people read these but these three are my absolute everything so don't expect me to stop writing about them any time soon. ot3's happiness is my happiness
> 
> please don't be shy about leaving a comment if you enjoyed! nothing would make me happier.
> 
> (another little note: the christmas eve segment was inspired by [this](http://isae-amane.tumblr.com/post/131331022600/this-is-a-keiichimion-ish-track-that-is-included) scene from the drama CDs! ^__^)


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